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“I’ve read her testimonials; I’ve seen what she did with the movie night. She created a fairly low-cost event for us, which generated thousands of dollars.”
Ireland nodded. “It’s not just what we generated that night. The idea is that they will tell their friends. When they go to buy a tree, they’ll remember what they liked about this place. You’re building a brand.”
I placed my elbows on the table. “We’re building a rapport with people. They asked for a second movie night, and we’re giving it to them. Our puppies worked the crowd last night, too. All that helps.”
Ireland smiled. “There have been comments asking to see the puppies online.”
“These are all good things, and if we use them to our advantage, it will only increase revenue,” Mom said.
Ireland nodded. “It increases traffic, which means more people.
“I want Marley involved in this. I think she could add to this discussion,” Ireland said.
“I’ll ask her if she has time to come. I’m all for her offering suggestions, but I don’t want to take away from her business.” I was worried that being here would hurt her business, but she said she could do it from anywhere since it was online. I kept expecting her to say it was time for her to go home, but she hadn’t.
If helping us open the farm would keep her here longer, I was all for it. I’d made some progress at the inn, but I was reluctant to tell her about it. I didn’t want her to move out of my cabin.
I typed out a message to her and was surprised when she immediately answered yes. “She’s coming, but I just want to make one thing clear. Marley is here to help us. We’re not paying her, and we need to be respectful of her ideas and her time. I don’t want to hear the attitude you threw out, Emmett, when we first sat down. What she has to offer is valuable, and we will be grateful for it.”
“That girl has had enough strife in her life. It won’t come from us. I don’t want to hear it either,” Mom said sternly.
“Are you on board?” I asked Emmett.
Ireland squeezed his hand, and he glanced at her, his expression softening slightly. Then he nodded in my direction. “I’ll be respectful.”
Ireland smiled at me, her tone full of affection. “He’s probably still going to grumble about the changes, but he wouldn’t be Emmett if he didn’t.”
Talon leaned forward and set his elbows on the table. “I’m all for making more money, but I can’t take time away from building the displays and getting them set up if we want to offer the light show as an option this year.”
“I don’t think we’ll need you to,” Sebastian said, proceeding to list the people he’d hired to work for the duration of the season. We sometimes had college kids come back each year to help, but they didn’t come until the last few weeks.
There was a soft knock on the door.
Knox stood to let her in.
“Heath said you needed me?” Marley stood in the doorway.
I pulled a seat from the wall to the table next to me. “Have a seat. Ireland wanted to run some things by you.”
Once Marley was seated, I gave her a reassuring smile, and she turned her attention to Ireland. “The movie night was a success, and we wanted to thank you.”
“I’m happy I could help. It’s such a great event, and I have a few ideas for the next one.”
Ireland held up her hand. “I’d love to hear those, but first, we’d like to talk about the opening of the farm for the season. You’ve built some momentum with the movie night and the branding on our website and social media accounts. I’m wondering if you could help us build anticipation for the opening.”
Marley leaned forward, an eager smile spreading over her face. “I’ve been following a few other tree farms in the area to get ideas. I think you have a few things to draw people in. It’s a family farm, and you have the puppies. We could write a little history of the property and your family on the website. We could also take some pictures of the farm with information on what will be available for cutting this year. Maybe even take a few shots with the brothers standing next to the trees to show their size. For the opening, I was hoping to take pictures of the puppies in the shop.
“I love those ideas,” Ireland said, and Mom nodded in agreement. “But none of us are photographers.”
“I’ve gotten pretty good. I took some classes because I wanted to be able to take some for my business. I’ve already gotten a bunch of the farm itself.”
“I don’t want to be in any pictures,” Emmett said carefully.
“I know you don’t like doing this stuff. But pictures are better than talking to people, right? It’ll just be me, and I promise it will be painless. I’d love to get photographs of the brothers, and maybe even one with the cousins. Lori, if you have any of the family when the boys were younger, that would be great.”
“I can pull a few for you to consider. I have pictures of the house and barn, too.”
Marley smiled widely. “Perfect. I assume no one has a problem with me photographing the puppies in the shop?”
